


Skipping stones and learning curves

by soulofaminaanima



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Gen, Kid Fic, all similar stories end in disaster, but what do we want?, can’t believe I’ve started this, don’t do it bro, kid Caleb Widogast, like fourteen years old, or are they?, or did it?, right before Trent picks him up, that's irrelevant!, the nein are bad at taking care of children, time magic gone wrong, time travel!, when do we want it?!, working title: Caleb fucks with time magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2019-02-16
Packaged: 2019-06-01 11:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15142058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/soulofaminaanima/pseuds/soulofaminaanima
Summary: Time magic is such a horrible thing to mess up. Luckily, this wizard has a group of friends who are willing to help him out when things go sideways.





	1. Off the deep end

**Author's Note:**

> I imagine this happens a few months after the things that happen in episode 25. 
> 
> My writing confidence grows with every comment.
> 
> Not beta read.

“Beau, are you guys almost done in the library? Fjord and Yasha already returned with the replacement wheel, so please tell Nott it’s okay-”

After having the message spell for over a year now, it was still impossible for Jester to keep her stories short enough to make it all fit in one message. Luckily, Beau can guess the rest of the sentence and she stands up to fetch the others. 

She sighs as she looks around the library they are visiting. Seeing neither Caleb, Nott, or Molly, she’s pretty sure their trip isn’t going to be over any time soon. Finding anyone in this ginormous space was going to be a bitch.

Beau slowly starts her search for the others. 

Caleb had needed her as a hall pass to get into the more restricted sections of the place, but left her to her own devices as soon as he was inside. Nott had trailed after him, pointing at books that looked promising for Caleb’s pursuit of whatever it was this time around. 

Molly had left her also, being more interested in the section of maps of other planes. Beau had placed herself against a book case nearby the big display of a map of the Underdark, but the Tiefling had left her line of sight pretty soon to look for something different and Beau had been too lazy to follow him. That had been over an hour ago, maybe?

She could yell. Should she yell? Beau definitely wanted to, but knew there was a chance they’d be banned and the others were certainly not going to like that. 

“Serves them right,” she mumbles, “shouldn’t have left me in this boring place.” The monk walks past rows and rows of oaken bookcases, looking for any sign of living. The high ceiling of the place and the marble floor give every step an echoing reverberation.  
The place is light and airy and the blue stained glass windows complete the whole aesthetic perfectly. It smells like parchment and cleaning spells and the temperature was cool and steady. Clearly magically stabilised. 

The library was big for a town like the one they were visiting. Caleb had animatedly told them the library had been her long before any other buildings had been built around the place. Beau couldn’t remember why a library had been built in the middle of nowhere in the first place, but Caleb would know. She just hadn’t felt the need to ask or listen to an explanation.

Strangely, she finds Nott and Molly together. They’re standing off to the side in a corridor about aberrations. Little eyes of specters, nothics and beholders adorned rugs of books and a model of an aboleth stood on one of the highest shelves.

“Beau, there you are!” the croaky voice of Nott rolls through the silent halls. “We were looking for you.”

“Sure you were, that’s why you came looking for me in the place where you last saw me instead of having me walk all around this building.” Beau answers, maybe a little bit with too much bite. But her back still hurts from falling asleep against the wooden bookcase, so if it made her act in a way that Fjord would hate, that wouldn’t be her problem. She looks dirtily at Molly, who just smiles earnestly back at her. Nott grins also.

“Jester messaged me and wants us to return. They bought a new wheel and want to leave as soon as possible.”

Now Nott looks down guiltily with a small nod. “Yes, of course. Let’s find Caleb and restart our travels again.” She had been the reason their wheel got damaged in the first place and although everyone – everyone but Fjord – had forgiven her for accidentally crashing the cart, she still felt guilty. And Fjord was only still mad because he’d been sleeping in the back when the wagon crashed and was literally ‘a little bit sore’.

“Good, where is our wizard, then?” Molly directs his question at Nott and the girl takes them to the part of the library she’d last seen their friend. Beau glances at the books on the shelves, piercing together their contents: books about the Feywild, apparently. Covers adorned in golden letters in an Elvish-like script and rolled-up maps of places of the other plane. The cleaning around the place was well done and there was no dust or other clues as of how popular this section was. 

Nott walks further down the passage to lead them to another section. Her green ears twitch as she tries to pinpoint sounds Beau cannot hear. They find Caleb a few rows away, flipping through pages of a thick tome. He’s facing away from them, but the echoing sounds of their footsteps gets him to turn around to face them.

“Time to check out!” Molly sounds just as happy as Beau is to leave this building.

Caleb hastily shuts the book and places it back among the rest on the shelves. “Oh, is it time to leave? But it’s only two in the afternoon?” Caleb almost sounds disappointed for only spending five hours in the place. If you asked Beau, it felt closer to two in the morning, but Caleb had this uncanny ability with time, so she trusted him if he told her it had ‘only been’ five hours of reading. 

Caleb follows them away from the book section, casting a forlorn glance behind at the shelves.

 

They leave the town that day, preferring the ground of the forest floor over the ratty rooms of the local inn. Only Jester seems kind of sad about their choice, but she also understands their reasoning so she only complains for a little bit.

Travelling on an towards a journey is always different from the way back. For one, the returning trip always seems shorter and there’s always less trouble once they know the roads. There haven’t been many instances where they were ambushed or attacked on their way back and although Beau isn’t ready to jinx it, she’s happy with the laid-back atmosphere the camp carries. 

With her feet on her backpack and her back against a tree trump, she’s in a perfect position to observe the campsite and it’s surroundings. Fjord and Molly are currently bickering over the correct order to clean the pots, pans and other cutlery they used for their dinner. Yasha and Caleb sit near the campfire, sharpening weapons and copying spells respectively. Nott is the appointed keeper of the fire for the night and deftly places another log on the burning embers. Jester is off site, collecting more wood with her small hand axe. 

Beau stares at Yasha for a while, following her calm and precise movements across the blade of her longsword. The accompanying ‘ssshiiing’ that follows the movement of muscles is hypnotizing in it’s own way and carry across the area.

The fields stretch out for miles ahead and in the distance she can see the hills that hide Zadash from view. Beau wonders if it would be possible to see the city lights this far away.

“Nott, catch!”

The happy voice of Jester enters the open space. The tiefling throws a cut-off branch in the general direction of the goblin, missing the stack of pans Fjord placed there a second ago with an inch. Nott darts towards the branch and catches it with ease. 

With a jolt, Beau perks up; she had not seen Jester walking up on them, too focussed on the woman sitting near the fire. Even if this isn’t her official guard time, it would be stupid to not scan their surroundings and have something more dangerous than a branch throwing cleric sneak up on them. 

Jester and Nott had started a friendly competition to test their reflexes. For the last week and a half, small things have been tossed between the two girls to test their skill.

Nott, as a real rogue, has not dropped a thing, even though Jester has made every throw more and more difficult to catch. Instead of throwing objects towards Nott, Jester had started throwing stuff in random directions.

Jester, on the other hand, is too distracted to react to most of Nott’s throws. A waterskin almost tore when it slipped through the fingers of the cleric, hitting the stone road below. For now, the waterskin is the only thing that had gotten hurt, but Beau’s sure that will change if the two continue their game. 

“One of you is going to hurt themselves sooner or later with this little game.” Caleb’s voice is soft, his focus still on the book in his hands. 

“Bah, don’t be a bore Caleb.” The melody of Jester’s voice moves around the campfire. “It’s not ‘just a game’ it’s helping us hone our reflexes, it’s good!” And with that, Jester flicks a lost pinecone at the wizard’s head. 

With his focus on his books and his lack of reflexes, Caleb get hit in the forehead, right above the eyes, with the flying piece of nature. Nott has the decency not to laugh, but Jester doubles over. 

“If you really want me to practice,” the wizard says as he smooth’s over his head, “you’d let me continue reading my magics.” His voice might sound stern and emotionless, but his eyes betray him. A spark of fondness that used to be reserved for Nott only, flickers across his face. 

Beau is sure Jester’s aware it’s there too, as the tiefling answers with a laugh in her voice. “One of these days, Caleb, I’ll get you to enjoy pranks too.” 

With the last “good night’s” exchanged the Nein settle down for the night. 

 

With the third watch of the night coming to an end, Beau yawns loudly in the morning’s light. Dew rests on top of the tents of her companions and the campfire has dimmed to a pile of smouldering ashes. 

In a few minutes or so, the first ones will awaken to the brightening daylight. Beau watches as Fjord tiptoes around the campsite, trying to retain the aura of peace for as long as possible. Her watch-partner’s already collecting pans for their breakfast from the cart. Knowing they will be only a days travel removed from Zadash, the group is willing to open up the good foods to enrich their breakfast.

It only takes a minute or five and Molly and Yasha emerge from the tent on the far right and thay can already hear Jester humming something in another. Slowly the camp comes back to life.

Beau’s placing a new log of wood on the smouldering embers of their campfire when she hears a high-pitched scream. With a flash, she spins around and scans the surroundings. No one seems to be attacking them and Beau’s focus shifts towards the tents.

The tent Nott and Caleb claimed the night before violently shakes once. The high-pitched voice of Nott – not alike the scream they all heard before – comes from within. “Fuck- why, wha- no! I’m sorry, what- please, don’t be scared!”

And to Beau's utter surprise, a young boy worms his way out of the tent, not through the flap at the front, but underneath the canvas on the back. First, a dot of red hair becomes visible and then lanky, thin arms and legs follow, crawling backwards away from Nott and Caleb’s tent. His head shoots around and blue eyes and a familiar face stare at the people around the campsite. 

Nobody moves for a solid ten seconds while Nott emerges from the now slightly sloped tent. She’s still in her sleeping attire and her yellow eyes focus on the young boy sitting in the grass before she freezes up.

“What the…” Molly mumbles.

They can only stare at the red haired boy who returns their confused looks with zero recognition in his eyes.


	2. Out in the open

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Nein make some first impressions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Nein make some first impressions and roll some natural ones in the progress.
> 
> Comments give me the energy to write more, but I'm on holiday, so it maight take some time for the next chapter to update. I'm looking at a week or so?

With a calculating look on his face the young boy – Fjord is not ready to give the kid a name – scans the group around him.

Between the six of them, Fjord isn’t sure as of what kind of conclusion he draws. The flamboyant Jester and Mollymauk, the tough looking Beau and Yasha, Nott with her shifty expression and himself, a half orc in still torn armour from their last job. Not a good sight to awaken to when you don’t seem to remember any of those faces. Or at least, that’s what Fjord draws from the shocked look on Ca- the boy’s face.

No one else but him seems to be able to take the lead and just as with most outsider interactions, Fjord taps into his hard learned social skills to lead the conversation for the group. “Uhm, hello there.”

The blue eyes move over towards the warlock, scanning Fjord from top to toe. The action is familiar, having seen a certain other redhead scan hundreds of rooms and people with the same kind of focus. Fjord makes his stance look open and non-threatening, showing his empty hands and hulking down a little bit to appear smaller. It’s a trick that works with most people, but the boy on the ground is unreadable. The kid nods politely at him, but his eyes flash around the campsite real quick, possibly looking for exists. 

“Hallo.” The boy’s answer comes out soft, but Fjord immediately recognises the rare but familiar accent. He checks the reactions of the rest of the Nein, just to assert their levels of shock. 

Molly and Jester are both keenly focussed on the boy on the ground, their tails slowly moving behind them and giving away a little bit of tension. Jester’s probably the least surprised out of all of them and Molly has this intense focus on the kid, tilting his head from left to right as if it might help him solve the riddle in front of them.

Beau is kind of unreadable, but the sad look on her face has something Fjord has never seen on her before. With anyone else he’d call it remorse, but this is Beau and the monk has yet to show anything like this. Yasha is the only one, except for Fjord himself at the moment, not looking at the boy. Just as him, she scans the surroundings and the reactions of the others, clearly not sure if it is custom in Wildemount to randomly regress in age.

Nott is still frozen in place and the one Fjord worries about the most. What had gotten them so spooked to literally flee the sleeping tent; was it just shock, or did something else happen?

“Does he even speak Common?” That’s Beau, asking a question Fjord is afraid to hear the answer to. What if Cal- this boy does not speak their language? Nott knows a little bit of Zemnian, but that’s about it for the Nein.

“I know Common.” A small protest sounds from the boy, his chin raised I defiance. 

“What’s your… do you remember us?” the boy shakes his head. “What’s your name then?”

“Caleb,” so Fjord’s suspicions are confirmed, “and why would I remember you?” but he has no idea how to answer that question without raising more questions, so he asks another question instead to keep the boy busy. “What’s the last thing that you remember, Caleb?” 

Caleb gives no answer and his eyes flick around the campsite again, but he moves in tandem with Mollymauk when the tiefling moves towards the tent of their wizard and rogue. 

As two compelling magnets, Caleb stands up and takes a step backwards to let the tiefling pass, clearly not comfortable with them in his personal space.

“Only going to check out the tent.” Molly answers as an excuse, before he disappears inside.

Caleb Widogasts – because there’s no reason to refuse the evidence in front of them – only shakes his head and takes another moment to scan the people and the campsite around him. 

“Shit, this is fucked-up.” Fjord hears Beau mumble. The field is awkwardly quiet as they all look at each other for inspiration what to do.

“So,” Mollymauk’s voice sounds from within, “we either wait ‘till the effects wear off, or we go looking for a solution. And with that, he throws Caleb’s ratty old coat outside. The books and holster make a soft thud as they land in the grass.

If they’d ask Fjord, he would say they’re moving a little bit fast with this and Caleb seems to be thinking the same thing.

“What, what is happening? I don’t understand.” 

“We were expecting somebody else to emerge from that tent.” Nott tries to answer, but Caleb refuses to look at her.

“Ah.” Caleb answers. He must think they’re crazy, Fjord concludes. “You mean that one over there?” and a child’s arm emerges out of a too long sleeve and points at something behind them.

Fjord and the others turn around to see what he means.

On the other side of the campsite, about forty feet away, a brightly glowing girl stares at them. Her half-long wavy hair moves softly, even with no strong winds present at the time. She has no colour, except for the soft-yellow light that shines from within her. 

“Who is that, do you- oohhh it’s a trick, I see.” Jester says with a slight smile and Fjord turns around: just to see Caleb run away. Dammit!

With his tiny legs and too long pants, he’s escaping after successfully distracting them with a dancing lights cantrip. Having seen the spell the second day they met, Fjord cannot believe he fell for the oldest trick in the book. 

By the time all of the others have caught up on the con, Nott is already running after their age regressed wizard. With a few seconds she’s caught up to him and with another two she has him tackled to the ground. With a distant thud, the two disappear below the waving grass and Fjord winces with the impact.

Fjord recognizes they’re not taking this change very well as Nott drags little Caleb back towards their campsite. He screams and struggles as they go.

Molly has immediately crawled back inside the tent when he saw they’d caught the boy and has emptied most of the interior by now. Yasha hastily rummages through the pockets of Caleb’s long coat – Fjord notices only now that all of Caleb’s clothing stayed untouched by the magic – while spell books and materials falls to the ground. 

“Look for stuff on Fey magic.” Molly mumbles while Jester flips through pages. Why, Fjord does not know, but there’s so much he doesn’t understand about the arcane and divine energies in this world. He has never heard of somebody changing their age and is seems very difficult. Yet, Caleb got it figured out, for whatever reason.  
Meanwhile, Beau has decided to help Nott stop a struggling Caleb. With one hand holding the upper arm of the boy, she drags him back into the living circle. “There we go, now stop struggling we’re not here to hurt you. We just- oUW!”

The monk draws her hand back in shock, letting the boy fall to the ground and cradling her wrist in her hand. A wrist that is now covered with a small burn mark. Fjord cannot believe it, but Caleb’s small palm still glows hot. 

The boy also stares at his own hands in confusion, but clenches them to fist to stop the glowing from showing. With a twist, Caleb takes a few steps back, but stops as he sees that Nott is still blocking his way out. 

“You fucker!” Beau swears as she steps forward again, a tiny burn not holding her back.

“No, you’re a fucker!” the small Caleb yells back. 

And maybe it’s a thing with kids and copying swearing words, but the phrase sounds ridiculous coming from Caleb’s mouth. Fjord is harshly reminded of a little bird girl and her affinity for swearing and slurs and his brain connects the two thought of ‘who keeps putting little kids on their path?’ and ‘oh, no not again’. 

“Ho, ho Caleb, Caleb. Please forgive us for our bad manners. We just didn’t expect you to look like… this.”  
With his hands raised, Fjord steps forward. He cannot let this get out of hand. The wizard once focusses on him, with a stone mask and distrust on his face. A look Fjord has not received since the High Richter’s house and once he’d hoped not to earn from his friend ever again, yet here they are.

“Was do you mean?” his frustration is clear on his voice.

“You don’t have to be scared, we won’t hurt you.”

“I don’t know you.”

“Well, maybe not now, but only just yesterday we were friends. Good friends I hope I can say.”  
Jester nods, trying to back him up with his claim. She’s kind of leaning in from around him. Beau also moves to the side, willing to let the half orc speak for them, but still ready to jump into action should they need it.

Caleb keeps the monk in his line of sight, but his focus is mainly planted on Fjord. With an intense stare, the boy seems to try to sense any threats or lies. “What do you mean?  
Who are you guys and was do you want from me?”

“We are… The Mighty Nein. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of us, but we kind of work together in this group- ” Before Fjord can finish, Jester takes over in one of her little rants. 

“We fight monsters and bad guys and help people; we’ve helped a lot of people, you know. And we’ve known each other since /forever/ since we met at Molly and Yasha’s circus – that’s Molly and the tall woman in Yasha – and I’m Jester by the way and over there is Nott-!”

“What Jester here is trying to say, is that you can trust us. Even if today might seem as a shock for you – it’s a little bit unnerving for us – we’re not bad people. Although we don’t understand how you got here, we certainly didn’t kidnap you, or anything. As a matter of fact, you’re a member of our group.”

“You’re lying, you must be.” That last part is mumbled, with Caleb not able to sense any lies. And Why would they lie? Caleb’s the one that thought up their name and is very much a member of their little ragtag group.

“I still don’t know you. May I go home now? Wake up, or something?” Caleb presses the palms of his hands to his face and runs his hands through his hair in frustration. The ginger plucks are a little bit shorter than Caleb keeps it these days.

“I don’t think it’s that simple, but we’d love to help you get back, if you’d let us?” And maybe they’d get their own Caleb back in return. 

Caleb stares at him for another long minute. The whole ‘looking at people with owlish eyes’ is starting to grate on Fjord. With the old Caleb it would be a miracle if he’d hold eye contact for just a few seconds. This younger version is the complete opposite; not knowing that staring is impolite.

“Let’s eat breakfast first. There’s nothing worse than having to travel on an empty stomach.” With exaggerating movement Jester moves to sit near the campfire and takes the bacon from yesterday’s inn out of one of the side pockets of her pink bag.  
With a small nod, Caleb moves closer and sits himself at the old spot he occupied yesterday. The contrast with last evening is weird and off-putting, but Fjord is very grateful for a Caleb who is willing to listen and stay with them.

His posture is still straight and he waits before everyone else has sat down to relax himself. 

“Caleb, catch!”  
The strip of bacon that flies across the field lands – maybe a bit awkwardly – in Caleb’s hands.

Maybe they have a chance to explain, ask questions and fix this now. Fjord can only hope.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> @ghostofaminaanima on tumblr.


	3. Treading water

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not beta'd so any feedback is welcome.
> 
> I'm not sure how Caleb's Common is at the tender age of fourteen, so I took some inspiration from my own broken English at that age. It's not the words, but the grammar that's difficult for Caleb, but I understand if it's too annoying to read in this way. With Caleb's knack for learning things, he'll speak fluent Common in a week anyway.
> 
> Comments keep this story going so tell me what you hope will happen next!

Jester's not completely sure how they convince Caleb to stay with them, but between Fjord's calming explanation and the other's quips of 'Caleb knowledge' to prove that they actually know the wizard, Caleb has apparently decided to stay with them. For now.

Jester’s sure that as long as they prove to be the best way for the boy to ‘get back home’, he’ll stay with them. Which is good, as Jester’s pretty sure they need this young version of Caleb with them to get the older one back. 

Caleb ate small bits of bacon throughout breakfast and followed Fjord to the back of the cart when they went packing for their stuff. Nott disassembled their tent and Yasha collected Caleb’s stuff while Molly 'tended to the horses' so he could keep an eye out for any more escape plans.

Jester’s not sure how old Caleb is at the moment, but he looks around ten; too young to properly take care of himself in this world, but just old enough to think he can do it anyway. His clothing only strengthens this observation: his blouse hangs off his tiny frame and his pants have to be rolled up four times before his feet are even visible. Adult Caleb has by no account a tall or broad figure, but this boy almost swims in the clothing. 

He looks thin and bony and just a little bit underfed. His hair is shorter and his face looks softer, but he still looks dirty. Did the dirt stay on him when he changed, or does young Caleb also not care about washing? 

Maybe Jester’s not focussed on the real problems, but what else can she do?

"So, I switched places with my future self? Is that what you're saying?" Caleb’s sitting in the front of the cart, leaning against the platform Fjord and Beau sit upon to steer the horses. Molly and Jester sit in the back of the cart, keeping an eye out for trouble from behind and to answer any questions the younger wizard might have. Yasha and Nott have taken the other horse and are out ahead to scout the road they travelled on yesterday. 

"Well, it's either that, or you just shrunk a few sizes." Molly has taken one of Caleb’s spell books and has spent the last hour trying to make any sense of the spells inside. Whatever happened to their friend, an explanation probably is not found among the cantrips and rituals the book holds. 

With a few murmurs while breaking up camp, the Nein had passed along their plan for the day: head back to the library and find whatever shady book Caleb got his hands on so they can figure out how to turn him back.

"But how does that explain his loss of memory?" Beau questions from the box.

"How do you explain any of this?" Molly answers without looking up from his reading. With a sigh he turns another page filled with small scribbles.

"And that's why we are going to a library." Caleb states. Jester’s not sure if the boy trusts them. Every question he asks seems to be a test of some sorts. 

"Not any library, it's the library we visited just yesterday and where you probably learned this magic." Jester wasn’t part of the subgroup that visited the library, but she’s convinced it’s the best place to start.

"If you're all 'Mighty'... can't you turn magic back?" Caleb's common isn’t as perfect as before and Jester can’t stop smiling at his choice of words and heavier accent. 

Caleb had been very confused with several words already; ‘breakfast’, ‘potato’ and ‘lollypop’ were just a few. Wherever Celeb lives in his youth, it isn’t a place where they speak more languages than Zemnian. Jester thinks the difference between this young boy and the wizard who’s fluent in at least four languages is amazing.

If Caleb knows nothing about his life with them, imagine all the pranks she gets to reuse now? Jester knows now might not be the best time, but she already has a list prepared. “Well, we do know magic, but our magic is very different from yours.”

“What kind of magic have you? Is it strong enough sending me back?”

“Molly here can do some crazy stuff with his swords and he has this thing with blood and ghosts. Fjord has a magical sword and some cool spells, plus, he ate a yellow orb once and we’re not sure what that did to him yet.”

“Beau has nothing, she just kicks things real hard-” an affronted huff sounds from the box, but Jester continues “and Nott knows some things, but also prefers her crossbow when fighting. Yasha turns into an angel when she’s really angry and I’m ‘the Cleric’ of the group and I hit things real hard with the lollypop we talked about earlier.”

Caleb stares at her for a long time when she finally stops her rant and Jester’s not sure if he was able to follow her. Or maybe he’s just overwhelmed? That sounds like a Caleb thing.

“But no worries Caleb, you’re really cool too! You’re good with fire spells, enlarging and hasting others and apparently turning back time. That’s definitely something.”

With a small frown, Caleb lowers his head. “I’m- I can’t do that.”

“Not now, obviously, you silly, but when you grow up, you’ll learn all kinds of magic.” Jester moves closer to the boy so she can make eye contact with him. Younger Caleb doesn’t seem to have such a big problem with eye contact and looks up again. She wants to make sure he knows he has magic, it feels important somehow.

“Yes, didn’t Caleb say he knew magic when he was younger?” Molly says while he closes the book, apparently giving up on deciphering Caleb’s handwriting. “He started when he was young, stopped for a while and then picked it up again few years before we met, right? How old are you now, Caleb?”

“I’m viert- fourteen and I only know little bit of magic, nothing big.”

For some reason, Beau stiffens at that answer and turns around in a swift motion. “Let’s talk about something else for now. Caleb, have you ever been to a library?”

Caleb shakes his head and Beau starts her rant about the importance of this specific library. Something about the building existing prior to the town surrounding it, but Jester’s not sure if even Beau knows why. The monk let’s Fjord steer the cart for the next hour and deflects all questions about magic, Caleb’s adult life now and anything personal about the Nein. 

Jester thinks it’s exaggerating, but it dawns on her why Beau does it, when Caleb asks how they met and Beau straight up lies. What if the knowledge messes up Caleb’s life somehow? What if he remembers when they change him back and young Caleb decides to never visit Trostenwald? Is that even possible?

Jester’s pulled from the worrying thoughts when Yasha and Nott return from their scouting trip. Yasha steers the horse to walk next to the cart while Nott holds on to the woman’s middle. The fur of Yasha’s cloak mostly hides the girl from sight. Her yellow eyes immediately focus on Caleb, but she addresses the group as a whole when she speaks. “The road seems safe, so we can pick up the pace if we want to, but I think the library will still be open even if we don’t hurry.”

It’s an invitation to chose whatever the group deems best. Jester’s not sure what Nott wants: get Caleb back as soon as possible, or keep Caleb safe in this weaker state he’s in. If Caleb only knows ‘a little bit of magic’, she’s not sure if he could defend himself if the they get ambushed. On the other hand, if this kind of magic only as a specific window to get reversed, they might need to hurry before it becomes permanent.

Jester looks around to see who will make a decision. Caleb looks at Fjord, already aware who their ‘semi-leader’ is when they have to make decisions. 

“Well, I imagine we’ll need some time to do research, so let’s go.” And with that, Fjord spurs the horses on.

 

“Wow, this place is enorm!” With awe in his voice, Caleb steps inside the library. His head is raised to follow the patterns along the ceiling and scan the many titles among the shelves. 

His excitement is cute and somewhat reassuring; young or old, Caleb still likes reading books. Jester’s not sure if this library is one where you can borrow books or if they only let you read them inside, but maybe she hopes they can bring some along for Caleb to read while they figure this out.

Jester has to admit it’s a pretty cool place; books about what seems almost any subject, maps of every place in Wildemount, different spell scrolls and weird objects. All preserved and collected in an orderly way one could easily turn upside down in the name of the traveller. 

Mollymauk turns around and holds his step in so he’s walking next to the boy. “Hey, Caleb. Why don’t we walk around a little bit? Let the others find the books they’re looking for and I’ll show you some cool maps and stuff?”

“That sounds…good.” Caleb takes a moment to check in with the others, especially Fjord, and follows the tiefling when the rest seems to agree with the plan.

“Yasha, you coming?” Molly asks and with the two escorting the young wizard elsewhere, the rest is left alone to track the route Caleb took yesterday.

The second the three are gone from view, Nott shoots off in a – what seems to Jester – random direction. All she can do is follow the others as they walk past rows and rows of bookcases. Most of them seem to be written in Common, but every once in a while Jester catches titles in Infernal, or one of the languages she cannot read.

“That’s the book he read last.” Nott points at a thick, black tome. It stands out between the other well-maintained books on this shelf. The dark leather cover has no title and seems old and worn. Jester isn’t even sure it’s in a language any of them can read, but when Beau opens the book on the first page, the neat handwritten pages appear to be Common.

In small letters, the first page contains a title and author: “The Findings on Time by Hamish Icosaëder”. Bingo! Time magic with a weirdo, exactly what would interest Caleb in a library like this.

“This is some kind of diary.” Beau flips through the next pages. “How are we supposed to reverse this effect on him with the diary of a person who is most likely dead?”

Nott bites her lip before turning to Jester. “Can you give me your pink bag, please?”

“Are we stealing a book?” Jester asks as she takes her Bag of Holding off her shoulders. 

“Of course not. We’ll be borrowing this one for a little while, but return it when we have our Caleb back.” Nott takes the tome from Beau and hands it over to her. The girl also nicks the two books on the shelf that stood next to the diary, just for good measure. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t… ah, why not.” Fjord looks nervously over his shoulder and Jester hates to fight him on this, but luckily Fjord doesn’t finish his complaint and even shields her from view as she places the book inside the back. 

“I don’t understand. Why would Caleb pick time magic of all things? Why couldn’t he just be interested in normal magic things, like healing spells?” For the first time this day Fjord sounds unsure of the events happening.

“Caleb can be interested in whatever he wants!” Nott answers tersely, “and maybe his magic just went wrong yesterday. We should’ve given him more time in the library.”

“But why time magic, though?” Jester asks. “it doesn’t seem helpful, reversing time for himself.” She asks Nott, but it’s Beau who answers. “Does it matter? If it went wrong, he must’ve hoped for another outcome, so let’s just figure out a way to get him back, okay?” And with that, Beau walks away with Nott in tow. 

Jester shares a look of ‘what was that all about?’, but Fjord can only shrug before he follows the other two out of the place. 

They find Caleb, Molly and Yasha leaning over a map on display in a glass case. With rapt attention, Caleb listens to Molly’s stories about places they visited with the circus, Yasha filling in with hums and small comments whenever Molly asks for it.

“Guys, come take a look!” Molly beckons them to come closer, “Did you know that Caleb grew up in a village named Blumenthal?” Jester never heard of that name before and immediately moves closer to inspect the map. 

“It’s too small to be showed on this one, but it should be right there.” Caleb points at the forests east of Rexxentrum. “I can’t believe I’m so far from home.” The boy mumbles softly.

“Don’t you worry Caleb, we’ll get you back in no time!” Jester answers truthfully. Back to his old life, or back in his own body, she isn’t sure, but she know they’ll do anything to reverse this magic. “Even if we have to bring you back to Blumenthal ourselves!”

Caleb smiles at her, but a few steps away, Beau and Nott share a look of concern.

 

Nott is the first one to sit down with the stolen books. She claims the girls room as her research area while the others settle down in the common room of the towns inn. Jester reminds herself to bring the girl some food later, but for now she’s happy to sit down for a moment. They decided to stay in the town this time, instead of travelling the few miles back out in the wild.

Right before she left to go upstairs, Nott had reached out and almost patted Caleb’s arm before both of them had recoiled. Jester feels bad for the girl and wonders if the reason Nott seems to avoid Caleb has something to do with their bad ‘first meeting’ this morning, or if it’s something different. 

“Seven mugs of your stew, five mugs of ale and two milk, please.” Se asks the barmaid as they pull over a few extra chairs. “Caleb you drink milk, right?”

The boy plays with the hem of his shirt. “Yes, but I can’t pay you.”

“Nonsense.” Molly answers, “we’ve been paying stuff for you since day two, so don’t bother about the cost. You’re a kid and we have money enough.”

“You… pay things for me?” Caleb sounds perplexed with this statement. “But I can’t pay you back anything.”

“The cost of a little bit of food and a roof above your head is nothing, Caleb” Jester answers and it feels like a repeat of their conversation in Zadash. It was so long ago, yet Jester can still recall the slightly insulted statement Caleb made before coating himself in dirt. “We’ll get paid again once we return to the Gentleman, so these last spending’s are nothing.”

“How- are you rich?” Paying for an inn hasn’t been a problem since their sewage job in Zadash and the Nein might have forgotten the concept of having a light purse. Young Caleb on the other hand has never known anything else.

“You’re rich too, you know.” Caleb stares at Molly with open mouth and all. “We – as The Mighty Nein – kind of started working together to stop a fiend from murdering a village and we never looked back. Now we work on whatever job seems interesting; two days ago we defeated some giant scorpions on request of The Gentleman. We’ll receive, what was it, two hundred gold for this?”

Fjord and Jester nod at this.

“Two hundred gold pieces?! What are you supposed to do with that money?” Caleb asks in awe.

“We use it to live off, of course. Buy foods and healing potions.” Jester moves her chair back when the barmaid approaches their table with the food and drinks. “You spend most of your share to buy spell components and ink, though. Being a wizard is expensive.”

Caleb takes a little while to process the new information. He stares at the stew they place in front of him, but he doesn’t dig in. The others leave him to it, not knowing what to say to keep the conversation going.

Jester stopped pestering Caleb about money a long time ago, instead she tries to help him pay for his expenses. The wizard started to accept their help only recently and Jester’s convinced he still keeps tabs on all the money he ‘owes them’. Jester sees his help on the battlefield and outside as payment enough, but Caleb’s not convinced. 

Conversation has started again, but the Nein keep it light. Molly lists the food they have for on the road and Fjord starts writing their to do list for when they return to Zadash. Jester is surprised when Caleb speaks up again. “What kind of school did I study?”

“What?” Most of them look up in surprise.

“What school of magic?” Caleb repeats and Beau is the one who answers. “Transmutation. You told me it was Transmutation.” Caleb narrows his eyes and looks at her with a calculating glance. Beau sighs in return and drops her spoon in her bowl. “It used to be Evocation, but you changed it later in life.”

Jester has no idea when Beau learned this from Caleb, but she’s glad the monk remembered. It seems to relax Caleb a little bit as he slums down in his chair. It feels like they passed another kind of test and whatever Caleb plans to learn, this ‘school of evocation’ must’ve been the thing he’s at in his life. 

“You can summon a cat.” Jester tries to break the silence that falls over the table, “that’s pretty cool, you know.”

“A cat?” the boy asks in confusion, distracted from his earlier musings.

“Yes, you snap your fingers and a cat appears. Or used to appear. I’m not sure you’re still abl- Frumpkin!”

In mid-sentence Caleb snaps his fingers and there, on the table between Fjord and Caleb’s plates, stands the tabby cat. Frumpkin immediately walks over to his wizard and settles on Caleb’s lab.

Carefully, Caleb starts petting the soft fur and it’s as if nothing’s ever changed. Frumpkin purrs as Caleb buries his face in the cat’s side. The view of the two together, ginger hair and a ginger cat, are such a familiar sight, I almost seems as if nothing changed. 

“We didn’t know you still had your magic.” Fjord’s voice sounds baffled. All of them stare at Caleb in confusion. How is it possible this younger version still has the magic of a lifelong trained wizard?

“You look just like him.” Caleb mumbles and whatever cat Caleb’s referring to, Jester doesn’t know.

There are so many things they do not know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is basically setup for later chapters and shows how little the Nein actually know about the magic that changed their friend. Did Caleb reverse back to his young self? Did old and young Caleb switch places? If so, where’s the older Caleb? Why can’t Caleb remember information and how much magic does he know? They stumble through their problems as they usually do and don’t actually know anything. 
> 
> Caleb on the other hand, believes that he got pulled to the future, but has no idea what to make of the group he met. He believes they know him – or a future self of him and he’s willing to stay with them as long as they prove that they can reverse whatever happened to him.


	4. Swiming to shore

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took a little while longer to finish because of ‘things that happen in canon’ and writing in Molly’s point of view became suddenly very difficult.

Molly wakes up on the floor of the room they claimed for the boys of the group. As he stretches out and hears a few pops in his back, Molly turns around from his sleeping place on the floor to look at the occupant in the single bed.

A mop of ginger brown hair sticks up from underneath the thin blanket, the body too small to belong to an adult. Molly knows not to be disappointed, but he’d hoped this specific magic only lasted twenty-four hours. Maybe it’s concentration? Or is it something one could dispel? What will it take to get their wizard back?

Caleb’s spell books weren’t that informative and Molly hopes Nott has had more luck with their ‘borrowed’ books from the library. That nobody has come after them for the stolen wares is a miracle, but Molly is not ready to curse it.

Wherever Fjord is Molly does not know, but he finds out the moment he tries to open the door. Something is blocking the entrance from the outside. Something big and heavy. Something strangely half orc shaped that moves the moment the tiefling pushes against the door for a second time.

“Sorry.” Fjord whispers as he stand up, straightening his clothing that he slept in, sitting straight up against the doorpost. His eyes dart over Molly’s shoulder to the sleeping form in the room. “Let’s move away for a second and let him sleep.” Molly whispers back.

They close the door behind them and walk towards the stairs for a moment. “He’s still small, I suppose?” Fjord asks. “Yes,” he answers “you still scared he’ll run away?”

Fjord looks down and mumbles something along the lines of “not wanting to risk it…room’s too small anyway.” Molly can only agree with him, losing Caleb right now would be the worst case scenario possible. “Do you know if Nott found anything interesting last night?”

“I checked in with the girls before going to bed and by then she was still reading it. Didn’t want me distracting her.” They are still whispering, keeping anybody from overhearing. The inn of the town is as bad and thin-walled as they imagined and Molly understands why they chose the road over this place the last time they left the town. 

The last time they left the town; when everything was still normal and wizards still practiced low-level transmutation spells.

“What do we do, Fjord?”

“I don’t know. Let’s just take it one step at a time and see if these books can help us. Caleb spent a whole morning in that library, so even if this is the place where he learned such magic, it could be coming from any book in there. And if this doesn’t work, we can always… check in with Pumat or something. All magic is reversable, right?”

Molly nods “Even if we can’t change him back, he’s staying with us, right?”

“Of course.” And Fjord almost sounds affronted. “Just checking.” Molly answers with his hands raised in defiance. After all, Kiri never stayed with them for long.

“He’s staying with us whatever happens. I just wish we knew what he’d been working on, you know? Why would he be interested in time magic, was it to learn more about the dodecahedron thing?”

“That creepy stone does freak me out sometimes.” The fact that the mote of possibility had saved their asses many times before is not reassuring to Molly in any way. If whatever magic that changed Caleb has anything to do with the stone, they’re screwed. They know nearly nothing about that thing.

“I’ll go check in with Caleb. Don’t want him waking up all on his own.” And with that, Fjord leaves Molly standing alone in the hallway.

Nott’s already sitting at one of the tables when the tiefling enters the common room. With her nose buried in the black book and a piece of parchment next to her to take notes on, she looks a lot like a studious wizard. Two other books are stacked next to her: one has an hourglass motif on the spine and the other has a Dwarvish design.

“What have you found so far?” Molly picks up the smaller book on the stack. ‘Time and space’, the title says, but the inside turns out to be, indeed, written in a Dwarvish script. So far for useful information.

“The other book is written in common but only talks about time changes between realms.” Nott answers before he can reach for the next book. “This one is the one we should focus on.” She continues with conviction. “What does it say then?”

“It talks about this wizard, Icosaëder, who travels to far places to find the secret of changing time. Druids who haven’t aged since they started practicing magic, elves who can’t remember their age anymore and Humans who fell through Feywild portals. Most of them are just stories, but I’m sure there’s a spell or something hidden in here. I just have to find out where.”

Nott flips another page as she tells him this. She’s halfway through the book and Molly has to give it to her. If anyone has the brains to find the secrets in this book, it must be Nott. 

Forget Fjord’s, Jester’s and his experience with magic. This girl has the eye for detail, the knowledge of what Caleb would look for and the drive to do it. Molly feels guilty for not being more helpful and thinks about the shock on Nott’s face when she emerged from the tent yesterday morning.

It must’ve been difficult to have your best friend not remember you. What if Yasha suddenly reversed in age and forgot about him? The one person who’s known him the longest, the one who knows him almost his whole life – or the two years he remembers of it, at least. Molly wouldn’t know what to do.

“Can I – how are you feeling, Nott?”

“I’ll feel better once we have Caleb back to normal.” Nott answers court, she doesn’t even look up from her reading. Her ears twitch a little bit and Molly knows it’s from irritation. “But it must be weird, seeing him like this, right?”

Nott doesn’t answer and the table falls silent for a long moment. Notts eyes switch to the next page and Molly sighs. “Just tell me if I can do anything to help.” That’s all he can do, that’s all she’ll accept, probably.

It stays quiet for a while before she answers. “Actually, can you check in on Caleb to see if he’s still wearing the necklace?” Molly frowns at that “What necklace?”

“He has a necklace and he needs to wear it at all times, so I need you to ask him if he still has it.” Molly can’t remember ever seeing Caleb wearing a necklace before, with his neck and shoulders hidden in that coat of his at all times.

“Why don’t you ask him yourself?” More silence follows, so Molly tries a different question “What does the necklace do?”

Nott sighs in irritation, writes down another note and continues reading. “Forget it, I’ll ask Beau, or Fjord or something.”

Before Molly can answer, the rest of the group walks down the stairs, Jester having seemingly collected everybody to join her for breakfast. Fjord makes a detour to the bar first to give the kitchen their orders, but then the team is complete once again.

“So, what is the plan for the day?” Beau asks after a few seconds of silence. Caleb ducks his head as a few people glance his way. Wisely, he keeps his mouth shut, more interested in listening in on what the others have to say.

Fjord, of course, is the one to lay out their options. “I suppose we can either stay here, or travel back to Zadash so we can finish our business with the Gentleman. It all depends on if we’ve collected enough information here.”

They all look at Nott and the book that still lies in front of her. The goblin girl shrinks down a little bit. It makes her voice sound muffled – or more muffled than it already is with her mask on. “I haven’t found any spells or information that could reverse the effects on Caleb, but I’m sure it’s in here somewhere. I can find it, I just need to read it all.”

“Maybe it’s best if we leave town today.” Two barmaids come out of the kitchen to place all the plates of food on the table. A pot of coffee and seven cups are placed in the middle. Molly thanks them before continuing. “Our mission did have a time stamp and if we need it, we can always return to this place. It’s not that far away.”

The others nod in agreement and with that, it’s settled. Caleb looks from face to face, staring intently at each of them before moving on to the next face. His gaze lands on Nott and her book last. She’s sitting right across from him, but she looks down at her food. The moment the two barmaids leave, her mask is lowered and with large chomps Nott eats her breakfast.

“Did you really steal that book?” Caleb asks Nott in what could be awe, but what sounds more like judgement. Nott stops with chewing on her food to look up. She nods once before ducking her head again. “Have you… stolen much books?” the boy asks after a while.

“I’ve stolen many things, among books, but it’s not high on the list, no.” Caleb opens his mouth, probably to say more on the matter, but closes it again without asking another question. Molly really wants to tell Caleb that most of those stolen books were probably stolen for the wizard himself, but Young Caleb’s moral compass might not be able to handle that. 

The tiefling takes pity on the two and changes the subject. “Hey Caleb, question: do you still have that necklace?” The boy’s eyes flicker over towards him. He reaches into his pocket and his hand comes back holding the chain of a silver chain with a small locket. “You mean this one?”

Nott perches up at the sight of the necklace and Molly can almost feel Beau stiffen next to him. What is going on with those two? “Maybe you ehm… should start wearing that one again.” Nott says.

Caleb frowns, but moves to put the necklace on. “Mother said it’s not safe wearing things around necks at night.”

“No, Caleb,” Nott sounds pressing “you should wear it at all times. Rule number one: wear the necklace wherever you go, okay?” Caleb nods quickly as the necklace finds his place underneath his too big shirt again. Molly has to remind them to buy the boy fitting clothes in Zadash, but for now he has something else to share.

“Here, and take this one too.” And with that, he hands over his Periapt of Wound Closure over. “That will keep you safe for now.” Without protest, Caleb puts on the second necklace on too. Hopefully, the boy never has to find out what it does. “You guys are a little weird, you know.”

“We know Caleb, but that’s why you hang out with us.” Jester answers.

 

Luckily, they don’t need the Periapt. Their trip to Zadash goes without incident and Molly spends most of the time listening to Jester’s ramblings about whatever crosses her mind. The moment Molly mentions new clothing for Caleb, she’s hyper focussed on getting the wizard the best of the best. She names different stores in her hometown and what kind of clothing they made and sold. Caleb’s protest of not needing anything new are ignored, of course.

Somewhere just after lunch, Nott hands Caleb his spell books over. “They are yours, so you should have them. Plus, maybe you can find any notes on time magic.” Nott stretches her arms out as far as possible when she hands them over as some kind of peace offering. Caleb takes the books from her without looking at them. The wizard wears one of his intense stares, he even tilts his head to one side to study the goblin girl.

The boy doesn’t say anything, though, and the next hour is spent in silence as Caleb reads his old spell books. “This is Komish. Did I really know all these spells?”

Molly looks up from sharpening his blades. Currently, it’s just Nott, Yasha, Caleb and him in the cart, so he nods in confirmation. “When- how long did I study these?”

“What do you mean? Like, how long does it take to learn a spell, or how long have you known these spells? Because it only takes you and afternoon to write and learn a spell, but it took you several months to grow strong enough to be able to cast them all.” Caleb doesn’t answer and reads another page. “Am I talking too fast?” the tiefling questions.

“No, I can understand. It’s just… a lot to take in. Two days ago I was helping mother bake bread and now I’m travelling with you guys to a city miles away from home. Plus, I’m some learned magic user who knows all these strange spells and kills giant scorpions.” The wizard sounds a little homesick as he says this. “I miss home and I want to go back as soon as possible, but I know it probably doesn’t work like that. With me being in the future and all.”

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. We don’t know Caleb, sorry.” Yahsa sounds soft and apologetic and Molly feels a surge of fondness for his quiet friend. She always knew what to say to make the truth sound less painful, but still honest.

Caleb’s head hangs low and Molly isn’t sure if the boy has tears in his eyes before a child’s hand rubs them away.

“You were always the one far more knowledgeable about the arcane things. You’re The Wizard, of the group.” Molly puts his swords away. The low hanging branches of apple trees brush over his horns as he scoots closer to the centre of the cart, closer to Caleb.

“But didn’t I tell you that I was casting a spell to change time?” Caleb’s eyes search his face for an answer. Molly sees his shoulders drop as he finds the answer on the tieflings face: he knows his older self didn’t. Molly shoots Nott a questioning look, but he already knew Caleb didn’t tell her what he was about to do.

Didn’t Caleb like it with them? That couldn’t be true, the wizard seemed to come out of his shell more and more the longer they travelled together. He smiled more frequent and had started trusting them all, not just with his life in battle, but also in the smaller moments. Falling asleep in the back of the cart while they travelled, handing over his books so other’s could protect them from the rain and all these small things that showed the trust that had been growing between all of them.

“Maybe… Maybe you… I don’t know.” Nott trails off. She stops herself from moving closer, but Molly can see her hands itch to soothe the kid in front of her.

The back of the car is quiet again, but less peaceful than before. None of that, the tiefling thinks. Molly plucks a branch of apple blossom off another low hanging branch, passes a few nobs off to Yasha and throws the rest to Nott.

“Nott, catch!” with some confusion, the goblin snatches the branch out of the air. “Do you want to braid them in my hair for me?”

He doesn’t have to ask her again as she immediately starts braiding them in his hair and around his horns. Her nails scratch his scalp from time to time, but it doesn’t hurt. Her work is soothing and Molly remembers the day where they made garlands of dandelions. The yellow flowers hung all around and in between his horns and the white fuzz sat all over his hair clothes as Jester blew the white balls around the campsite. 

Caleb had sat patiently as they hung rows and rows of flowers over his head, shoulders and legs. Only moving to turn a page in his book. By the time he’d finished his story, Nott and Jester had covered him head to toes in flowers. 

“Caleb, you want a flower crown too?” Molly asks when he feels Nott coming to a stop. Without opening his eyes, he knows Nott is glaring at him. “You know, Nott makes the best crowns I’ve ever seen, I’m pretty sure they give the wearer luck.” 

“… Okay, I’ll pick some extra flowers first.” His reaction takes a while to come, but his voice is sure when he answers. Caleb reaches out of the cart – almost falling off in the process – and returns with another batch of white-pink flowers.

Finally! Nott moves closer to the wizard and starts working on another crown. The sight is familiar, yet strange and Molly imagines that, once they truly get to know each other again, these two are the best example of a found family. Nott and ‘her boy’ Caleb Widogast.

The cart hobbles further down the road and Molly sits back to relax, careful not to shake off the flower crown of apple blossom on his head. The soft lull of the back and forth between Caleb and Nott and the sound of Yasha sharpening her longsword helps him slowly falling asleep.

 

Zadash is peaceful when they enter the city. The weather has been merciful for this time of the year and most people wear lighter attire, some children even walk barefoot as they play.

Jester drags Caleb and – for some reason – Yasha along for a shopping trip to the Tri-Spires and the rest is left to their own devices to settle down in the inn. As regular customers, they get everything settled for the night in no time and Fjord, Beau and Molly spend the next hour or so sipping their drinks and playing cards. 

Nott has taken out the book again and softly tells them about the story within to see if any of them recognise any of it. She’s halfway through and mister Icosaëder has spent the last chapter following a cleric around who kept bodies intact while adventurers searched for diamonds for a resurrection ritual. Not very rare on it’s own, except for the fact that this cleric had been working on a look-alike spell for living creatures. 

It doesn’t seem like the thing that happened to their friend, so Nott stops with talking and focusses on reading again.

When the three other members finally return, it’s with two new sets of clothing for the wizard. The first one looks almost identical to Caleb’s old outfit: a simple beige tunic and brown pant. It’s not the set Caleb is wearing at the moment, no. That one must’ve been chosen by Jester herself: Caleb’s wearing a light blue blouse with dark grey pants. He wears a dark blue dyed belt, suspenders and a jacket in the same deep colour.

The outfit makes Caleb’s hair look brighter and his eyes more prominent. “It suits you.” The tiefling tells him. “Jester wanted me to show you for some reason.” Is the mumbled response.

Nott immediately praises him “Well, she was right. You look very handsome Caleb.” Caleb looks down for a second, but mumbles a thank you to the girl.

“You guys, you never believe what happened in the store!” Jester bounces on her heels while she folds the beige tunic. “I probably won’t, so tell us.” Fjord sighs.

“So the store owner – I might have been too loud or whatever – but she did not like me when we walked in.” Molly can understand, they’re still tieflings after all. “She followed us around the store, like, really close and I think she thought I had kidnapped Caleb or something! With all these disappearing kids you know, so she started asking Caleb questions. ‘Were are you from?’, ‘How did you get here?’, ‘Do you like travelling with your companions?’, those kind of questions.”

Molly can imagine the reaction Caleb would give to those questions. Him getting dragged to a clothing store by someone he didn’t know – at this moment – and all that. He was still their introverted Caleb, after all.

“But then Yasha walked up to us – she’d been waiting in another part of the store – and the woman immediately relaxed a little bit and I think she thought Yasha was Caleb’s mother.” Jester ends with a shit-eating grin on her face. “Can you imagine?!”

Yasha on the other hand looks kind of uncomfortable, but in a how-am-I-supposed-to-interact-again kind of way. Her eyes flicker to Nott and then towards Caleb. “Do I.. look like your mother?”

The wizard shakes his head with a smile and Molly has to admit that he’d always imagined Caleb’s mother looking more like a small ginger haired human with knitted vests and ten cats. Not as the tall, broad shouldered barbarian with a longsword strapped to her back.

“Maybe it’s a good thing Yasha was there then” Fjord drawls “But now we’re all together, I was wondering what we’ll do with the Gentleman.”

“What do you mean?” Nott asks with her writing father between her lips.

“Well, no offense Caleb, but maybe the headquarters of the… person we’re meeting isn’t the best place for a kid.” Now Fjord mentions it, Molly does not feel like taking Caleb down there to the Gentleman. What if someone recognised him, would that be dangerous? 

A protective feeling takes hold of him: Caleb might have his magic, but he was in no state to fight or protect himself. Although the Nein had a much better relationship with the town’s crime lord these days, Molly did not want the man to see one of their own in such a vulnerable state.

And it seemed like the others felt the same. “Someone can stay with him?” Beau offered, “or he can stay near the bar, or something?”

“I can- I can come!” Caleb says “I’m no baby, I’m not scared of your Gentleman.”

“It’s not about your bravery, it’s about the fact that our employer isn’t the safest type to hang out with.” That’s Fjord, of course.

Caleb pouts, but they can see a plan already forming in the kids head. Caleb closes his eyes for a long second and focusses inward with a small frown on his face. The rest stares at him in silence and Molly has a feeling for what is about to happen next. He’s seen this spell before after all.

The air around Caleb’s head seems to vibrate for a moment and when it stops, the wizard no longer looks like their Caleb. His ginger red hair has turned black and his complexion is a few tints paler. Freckles no longer adorn his cheeks and when he opens his eyes they are different, yet familiar. Caleb’s left eye stayed blue, but his right one’s now a vibrant purple. Yasha purple.

The barbarian herself looks put on the spot as the rest compares the two in front of them. Jester giggles “You look like Yasha.” They very much do, Molly admits. Caleb looks like Yasha’s younger brother and although Caleb’s still a young boy, he knows nobody would dare to mess with him once they saw Yasha. He for sure wouldn’t.

“You say people don’t look at me if- when they see Yasha. Now they always see Yasha.” Caleb kind of looks proud, chest puffed out and chin raised to meet their reactions. It’s a posture nobody associates with the wizard, but one they are slowly getting used to with this younger version. “I’m not staying here.”

He says it with such finality, nobody knows what to say in response. Beau looks towards Fjord, hoping he’ll know something to say to change the wizard’s plan. Caleb stands up and takes a few steps towards the door, as if he’s waiting for the rest. “I’m still part of your Mighty Nein, right? So let’s go.”

“That stubborn Zemnian.” Beau swears under her breath, but she follows the rest as they leave. And that’s that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apple blossom has many symbolic meanings, but I always knew it as the flower of peacefulness. Shine bright, circus man.  
> Find me on tumblr as @ghostofaminaanima.


	5. New currents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yasha!!

“How long do we have until sundown?” Yasha asks the people walking in front of her.

“Three more hours and I can always redo this spell!” Caleb almost shouts over his shoulder. He’s helming their jog towards the Gentleman’s hideout and Yasha has to keep her eyes on the bop of black hair in front of her if she’s not to lose the boy.

“We’re bringing you with us, Caleb. There’s no need to worry,” Beau pants next to her “and can you stop running? There’s no need to hurry and how do you even know the way, dammit!” With a small sprint, the monk walks past her to catch up to the boy helming their trek. Yasha frowns, how does Caleb know the way?

Caleb’s age reversion mishap might be the weirdest thing that happened to their team. All of the other puzzles life has thrown in their path felt far easier to handle, if only because there had been a plan. A Bad Plan most of the times, but a plan nonetheless.

Now, all they have is a book filled with bedtime stories. Yasha had taken a peek inside at a chapter or two this midday. Nott had been busy braiding Caleb’s hair so she had some time to flip through the pages until she found a chapter that caught her attention: ‘The Land of Never’. A demi plane hidden away from time behind the plane of Limbo, only found by certain Horizon Walkers. The book claimed that time did not touch the islands in this place and that it kept people young for centuries.

Yasha admitted that it did sound as a challenge to find this place, the words ‘chromocasters’ ‘outer planes’ and ‘Laws of Thermodynamics’ had no real meaning to her. Since the writer of the book was only interested in the plane from a scientific standpoint, there were no descriptions as to how someone might try to find it. Yasha doubted this was the story that had set Caleb’s reversion in working, but she dutifully wrote down a few notes for the others.

As they travel closer to the inn that houses the underground base of the Gentleman, Beau manages to slow Caleb down enough so they can all walk in together. Yasha moves closer to the boy, reaching out for his hand. She knows her own feelings good enough to know that’s it not just to help him with his illusion. She checks her sword strapped her back, wanting to keep Caleb as safe as possible and not being afraid to use the weapon if needed.

Nott takes Caleb’s other hand and together they follow the rest inside. Caleb looks up at her with her own two coloured eyes and Yahsa admits it’s a little bit creepy. Yasha never really looked at her own eyes, she knew that one had changed colour after Kord chose her, but aside from that… She shakes her head as to get rid of the memory.

They have to wait for a little while, but soon the gentleman stands in front of them. His eyes scan the group, lingering on Caleb’s little form next to her. Nott has slinked back into the shadows and Beau has taken her place. The monk’s staff is out and the group stands a little tenser than usual.

What will the man make of the young boy with them? Connect the dots and presume Caleb’s her brother? Her son even? Maybe he’ll see straight through the magic and know it’s their wizard.

The Gentleman takes in the sight in front of him for a little longer, but then a smile breaks his face. “Well… I know I gave you a more time-consuming job than usual, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t _that long._ ”

Nope. Straight to the son theory then.

“It did take us a little longer than hoped, but only because we had to make a detour in a town just east from here.” Fjord’s technically not lying, only telling half-truths and redirecting the conversation at hand. A technique he’s very practiced in and one they could definitely use in this moment.

“But you’re here now, so no trouble I suppose?” The Gentleman walks around the table to take a seat at his infamous spot, the place in the crook of the L-shaped room. His skin looks moist again and his silken clothing falls loosely around his posture. “Nothing we couldn’t handle” Fjord continues.

“Once we found the scorpion’s nest it was as easy as cutting weeds.”

“We even brought some of their tails with us.” Beau joins in. “You know anybody who might be interested in a few litres of scorpion venom?” Jester nods excitedly and reaches into her bag to grab a few of the stingers they cut off. The gentleman does look interested in the tails and perks up to take a closer look at the body parts in Jesters hands.

Yasha keeps half an ear in on the conversation, but her eyes flick around the room. The bar is fairly empty and only the standard patrons are here. She keeps an eye on the little shifty gnome who’s trying to catch Caleb’s attention. So far, he hasn’t had any luck as Caleb ignores him by staring at the Gentleman. Yasha moves closer to the now black haired boy and the gnome takes one look at her, reconsiders his plan and is gone, shuffling over to the bar, still with a grin on his face.

She keeps an eye on him until they’re out of the base, holding Caleb’s shoulder and steering him away from the place. It’s very much needed as Caleb’s immensely focussed on Kutha the Ogre guarding the corridor. Like a small owl, his eyes lock onto the giant form and Yasha places herself in between the two of them, just to be sure.

She’s always felt protective over her teammates, but taking care of Caleb feels like an actual Need right now.

“Well, that went way better than I expected.” Molly mumbles as they walk back out into the late midday sun. Their visit took just under an hour, but the shadows in the city are already growing longer. “Good job, kiddo.” He continues while ruffling Caleb’s hair.

As Caleb tries to duck away from Molly’s attention, the disguise spell dissolves and his hair turns back into its normal colour. It’s like Molly ruffles the black out of his locks and Yasha and Fjord immediately try to shield the boy from any prying eyes. Two ‘normal’ blue eyes look up with mirth: “Where do we go to next?”

The others look at each other for a moment. Where should they go to next? “We can visit Pumat? We do have to drop by him at one point in the next few days, might as well go now.”

Caleb smiles as he closes his eyes and the Disguise spell turns him into an Xorhasian child once again.

\---

"A new face, I see?" There are only two Pumats in the store right now, but Yasha can hear another person rummaging in the workshop in the back. The Firbolg at the counter closes his book and watches as they walk over.

Fjord leans against the counter while little Caleb takes a spot next to the half orc. By standing on his toes, the boy can just look over the counter. "Yes, Pumat, meet a young friend of ours Ca..llum. Callum, yes."

Pumat takes a long moment to scan Caleb from crown to toes and extends his hand. Caleb, the polite child that he is, reaches out to shake the large extended hand. Caleb’s hand almost disappears in the Firbolgs grip. The wizard’s mouth snaps shut, not willing to show that he was staring at the giant form in front of him.

“Nice to meet you, young man. How may I help you on this evening?” Pumat asks and the Nein relax again. It’s as if everyone’s waiting for someone to see through Caleb’s illusion and become suspicious. Caleb’s disguise must be stronger than they thought if he can fool a mob boss and a strong magic user like Pumat. Yasha’s glad for it.

Yasha sees Nott taking her hand off her crossbow as they all relax and fall back into easy chatter. Though she’s pretty sure the goblin wouldn’t shoot Pumat, she can’t guarantee it. Pumat doesn’t actively ignore Caleb, but he focusses his attention on Fjord and leaves the boy be as the two adults talk about new magic items.

“Callum, do you want to look around?” Jester doesn’t wait for an answer and drags Caleb along towards one of the displays.

Yasha follows the two close behind as they look at several items. “-and then Molly bought the necklace you’re wearing right now and I bought my pink bag and we got a BIG discount on everything, because we are Pumat’s prime customers- ”

Jester talks and talks away while Caleb watches her with a look of confusion and awe. “Have you ever been to a shop like this before, Caleb?” Yasha asks, even though she’s pretty sure she already knows the answer.

“I didn’t even know you could buy magic, this is so strange.” Caleb takes another look around the shop, his eyes lingering on Pumat and Fjord still in conversation. “You said I bought a lot of paper and ink here? Why?”

“It’s for your spell book.” Jester says “You copy spells you learn or find on the road so you know more powerful magic.”

“Did I ever go to a school for my magics, or did I only learn things ‘on the road’?”

Jester frowns “Hmm, I’m not sure? You never told us about a school, but I suppose you did. Almost everyone with arcane powers goes to one. Fjord did think about going to the Soltryce Academy, have you heard of that one?”

Caleb nods when he hears the name. “My parents talked about it a few times. It’s in Rexxentrum, right?” Jester nods and says “But if you want to learn more about the place you should probably ask Fjord. I do have magic, but apparently there’s a difference between arcane and divine things, or whatever.”

Yasha leaves the two to their magic talks, not knowing enough about it herself to follow Jester explaining the difference between certain types of arcane and divine energy. She slowly makes her way around, back to the counter, right as Fjord and Nott show off the black book to Pumat. Nott holds the book up high so the Firbolg can take a look, but refuses to let go of it or even place it on the counter. Intent to keep it safely with her.

“Oh, you mean Icosaëder, that quantum obsessed Wizard, yeah I know him. Better to say, I know of him. Never met 'em, but read his work and I know a few gals who met him once.”

"He is still alive then?" Nott sounds hopeful and Yasha feels the panic in her own chest dissipate at the thought of it.

"Well, I think so. I mean, it was his goal to turn back time to live forever. Not sure he succeed in that particular thing yet, but last I heard of 'em, he was still out there looking for a way to do it."

"Do you know where we might find this man?" Fjord asks.

Pumat takes a long moment to think. He hums and turns around to reach for one of the shelves, when he turns back, it's with a thick ledger in one hand. Dust flicks off of the book and as Pumat turns the pages, Yasha can see every income and order for the shop, written in neat and loopy handwriting.

Pumat’s fingers trace along the rows and rows of orders and the Firbolg hums in content as he, apparently, finds the thing he was looking for. “Have you ever been in a place named Othe?”

Yasha has never heard of it and apparently none of the others have either. Pumat takes their silence as an answer itself and continues: “Our last known location on your wizard is in this place. Apparently,  it’s somewhere high up in the mountains near the Menagerie Coast in the west. It has an helluva shipping rate, that’s what I can tell you.”

Fjord and Nott share a look she can’t decipher, having a silent conversation while Pumat resets the book on a shelf. “And finding this town would lead to this wizard?” Fjord asks, already reaching for their own map.

“Well, I can’t confirm this for sure, but it’s as good as any place to start.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m leaving canon behind with this story now: no Caduceus, Veth, or Bren in this one. Or I could maybe go back and write the new changes into the story? What do people think?
> 
> ‘Othe’ is actually a place on Matt’s Menagerie Coast’s map!
> 
> And yes, the whole Mother Yasha part of the story was just to make that stupid Gentleman joke. I’m sorry..

**Author's Note:**

> Find me at @ghostofaminaanima on tumblr.


End file.
